Obama, McChrystal conclude Oval Office talk

WASHINGTON — Afghanistan war commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal met privately with President Barack Obama at the White House Wednesday and then departed ahead of a scheduled war strategy session. There was no immediate word on whether Obama would fire him for his inflammatory remarks in a magazine interview.

Officials had initially indicated that McChrystal would attend the strategy session on Afghanistan to explain remarks he made in the interview with Rolling Stone magazine. But he was seen leaving the West Wing and climbing into a van after his nearly half-hour face-to-face meeting with the president. McChrystal had met earlier in the day with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Mike Mullen.

Before the White House meeting, two military officials said McChrystal went in prepared to submit his resignation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Obama was expected to make an announcement on McChrystal's future later Wednesday.

"I think it's clear that the article in which he and his team appeared ... showed poor judgment," Obama said Tuesday at the close of an unrelated Cabinet meeting. "But I also want to make sure that I talk to him directly before I make any final decisions."

Obama summoned McChrystal to Washington from Afghanistan after learning of his comments about administration officials. A White House rebuke of McChrystal suggested that it would be hard for him to save his job.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed his confidence in McChrystal during a video conference Tuesday night with Obama, Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said Wednesday in Kabul.

"We hope there is not a change of leadership of the international forces here in Afghanistan and that we continue to partner with Gen. McChrystal," Omar told reporters.

In the Rolling Stone article, McChrystal didn't criticize Obama himself but called the period last fall when the president was deciding whether to approve more troops "painful" and said Obama appeared ready to hand him an "unsellable" position.

McChrystal also said he was "betrayed" by Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, the man the White House chose to be his diplomatic partner in Afghanistan. He accused Eikenberry of raising doubts about Karzai only to give himself cover in case the U.S. effort failed. "Now, if we fail, they can say 'I told you so,'" McChrystal told the magazine. And he was quoted mocking Vice President Joe Biden.